New Bond shoot begins in Rome

(ANSA) - Rome, February 19 - Filming of the next 007 thriller starring Daniel Craig as James Bond got underway in Rome's southern EUR district on Thursday.
    The British actor appeared alongside Italy's Monica Belucci - at 50, the oldest ever 'Bond girl' - in the monumental Piazza Giovanni Agnelli for the shooting of a funeral scene in Spectre, the 24th movie in the Bond saga inspired by the spy novels of Ian Fleming. Other scenes that are to be shot in Rome between February 19 and March 12 under the direction of Sam Mendes are a car chase and a parachute jump onto the pedestrian Renaissance Ponte Sisto.
    Enterprising residents along the car-chase route are reportedly offering their flats to Bond fans for 1,000 euros a day. Spectre is set for release in the autumn. The film marks the fourth appearance for Craig as Bond, following his debut as the master spy in the 2006 Casino Royale followed by Quantum of Solace in 2008, and 2012's Skyfall.